The Death of Maria Malibran (1972) By Peter Valente. Werner Schroeter has carried the torch for free expression in cinematic art, and shares with many of these underground filmmakers, particularly Jack Smith, a desire for excess and theatricality. But it was a freedom that was won by overcoming obstacles.” Werner […]
Progress and the Forgotten: the Importance of The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
By Christopher Sharrett. One of the most important films of the 1990s, certainly the best about poverty and the plight of the homeless.” Tim Hunter’s 1993 film The Saint of Fort Washington enjoyed some applause in its day while having a limited release and poor commercial performance. Today, it seems […]
Possessor and the Tortured Soul of Brandon Cronenberg
By Elias Savada. This is a brutal horror film and not for youngsters, no matter how much it succeeds in its weird Freaky Friday way.” Recently, business visionary Elon Musk talked about one of his latest science projects, a Neuralink brain implant to “supercharge human communication.” Except there’s already a […]
Sad and Blue, Shiny and New: Daria Woszek’s Marygoround (Maryjki) (2020)
By Alex Ramon. The film by and large succeeds in putting “women’s different experience” centre screen.” “A passionate lover will fulfil your deepest desires. This week the world is yours. You will be the queen of your life. Don’t be afraid to be daring…” The recitation of a florid horoscope, […]
Remember When I Killed You, Darling? Darren Lynn Bousman’s Death of Me
By Thomas Puhr. Wicker Man retreads can be a lot of fun…. but Bousman lacks the compositional sophistication of an Ari Aster or the confrontational gender politics of a LaBute.” A husband and wife vacationing in Thailand wake up bruised, muddied, and lacking any memory of how they got back […]
A Rom-Com About Disconnecting…and an Alien Invasion: Alex Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s Save Yourselves!
By Elias Savada. Well-crafted even for its seemingly lowish budget, the movie is a doozy of a down-to-earth apocalypse farce.” For American filmmaker Alex H. Fischer, the road from avant-garde short films to arthouse feature stretches but four years, although his commercial and music video work dates back at least […]
Virtual Discoveries: NYFF 2020
Stump the Guesser (Guy Maddin, 2020) By Gary M. Kramer. There were some interesting discoveries, documentaries, and revivals screening at this year’s New York Film Festival. Here are a handful of notable titles that played at this year’s virtual fest. One of the highlights is the pairing two playful and […]
From Playground to Labor: An Interview with Kodi Smit-McPhee on 2067
By Zoe Kurland. I felt a strange sense of identification as I watched 2067’s opening scene – my planet was burning, too, and I was powerless to stop it.” The film 2067 begins in the deep dark of space. As Earth spins slowly into view, fires erupt across its surface. […]
Oppression Descends: João Paulo Miranda Maria on Memory House (TIFF 2020)
By Gary M. Kramer. What I needed from Pitanga was the history of the cinema in his body and his eyes. I needed to bring to the screen the ‘blood in his eyes.’” João Paulo Miranda Maria makes an auspicious feature film debut with Memory House, which had its World […]
When Asylum’s Regained: Eva Mulvad’s Love Child (TIFF 2020)
By Ali Moosavi. Love Child is not so much a story about refugees and asylum seekers…. This is a film about love triumphing above all adversaries.” The subject of asylum seekers has come to the fore in recent years with refugees from war torn countries fleeing to the west and […]